Sign the Petition to

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Last weekend’s pair of police shootings in Anaheim are only the latest evidence of excessive officer brutality. In 2012 alone, the Anaheim police department was responsible for six shootings, all but one of which was fatal. Worse than this exorbitant violence, the city’s Latino community – who make up more than half of the population – claim that police unfairly target minorities and are willing to use a degree of force that they would never exercise on white individuals from more affluent neighborhoods.

While you as federal authorities have already agreed to examine police shootings in the city, including the ones that sparked recent protests, you are still determining whether or not you will open a civil rights investigation. We believe that all citizens, regardless of their race or economic status, deserve to be treated equally by our law enforcement officials. Recent events highlight that this basic American right is being disregarded in Anaheim. We ask that you officially commit to probing the city’s police department, until we can be sure that justice is truly being served!

Signed,

Kellen Louise

This petition closed almost 3 years ago

How this will help

Last Saturday afternoon 25-year-old Manuel Diaz was chatting with two friends in his native Anaheim when a police car drove up with its lights on. What happened next is the subject of a heated...

Last Saturday afternoon 25-year-old Manuel Diaz was chatting with two friends in his native Anaheim when a police car drove up with its lights on. What happened next is the subject of a heated controversy that has gained national attention over the past week. Allegedly, the police identified Manuel as a gang member who began throwing objects at the officers, prompting them to open fire, killing the Latino man. However, the Diaz family – who've since filed a civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit seeking $50 million in damages from the city and police department – maintain that the police shot unarmed Manuel once in the back and shot him again in the head after he'd already fallen to the ground.

The incident immediately enraged bystanders and sparked protests across the city. On Sunday hundreds of Anaheim residents flooded the police department demanding to know why police used such deadly force against Manuel. However, only several hours later, a separate incident further stoked the flames of citizen outrage. Anaheim police shot and killed a second man, whom they also deemed to be a gang member, while they pursued him in a car theft case.

Impassioned protesters have since taken to the streets of Anaheim, confronting authorities and calling for an end to unnecessary police brutality. Last week, thousands of people gathered outside of the City Hall – as the City Council held a meeting to discuss the weekend shootings – eventually disrupting the proceedings and blocking all access to the building. The demonstrators then moved to the downtown streets, where the night took a violent turn when some people began breaking windows and throwing rocks and bottles at police. Officers retaliated using batons, non-lethal "bean-bags," and pepper spray projectiles – eventually making 24 arrests.

Despite the recent frenzy, Anaheim residents have long raised their concerns over excessive police force. Especially the city's large Latino community – representing nearly 53 percent of Anaheim's total population – feel targeted by officers and subject to unnecessary brutality. The recent shootings are just the latest instances of a mounting trend, bringing total police shootings in the city up to six this year alone (all but one resulted in fatalities.)

If there truly is a racial and economic side to this institutional violence, the federal government must step in to ensure that justice is being served. An FBI civil rights investigation could result in the creation of an independent citizen review commission to monitor police or a new requirement for officers to undergo sensitivity training – which many in the city's Latino community have long advocated for.